A new underground art gallery has opened in Cardiff, except it's quite high overground.

Third Floor Gallery, run by the photographers pictured above, Maciej Dakowicz (left) and Joni Karanka (right), sits atop of a tall period building on Bute Street, Cardiff Bay.

Polish Maciej achieved critical fame after his 'Cardiff at Night' photographs telling the story of a typical Saturday night out in the city were published across the world by major media outlets.

They have chosen to launch the gallery with new work from photographer Peter Dench, who has previously worked for FIFA, Barclays Bank, TIME Magazine, The Sunday Times and Weekend Guardian. LoveUK is his first major solo exhibited works after Finding Faith in Brighton.

Dench's raw contemporary portrayals of love in all its forms from memorable scenes across the UK shares the same stark real quality as Maciej's scenes of drunken revellers in Cardiff.

Lovers kissing, old people holding hands in kitsch bedrooms, and greasy men oggling at young girls dancing all make up examples of contemporary 'love' in the UK in Dench's photography. However, most of the photographs depict a baseness of lust – removing the rosy-coloured glasses to reveal the harsh reality of a thirteen-year-old pregnant girl, an adulterous husband, and fishnet-stocking clad clubbers.

Yet one or two photographs seem to capture something unique about contemporary displays of love – an old couple kiss under in a battered shelter in Blackpool, and a family pose for a nautical-themed wedding. The overall effect is compelling, however, and the exhibition is a step away from the usual offering at small galleries across the city.

The Third Floor Gallery itself isn't easy to find.. beep the buzzer at the bottom of the building and you'll be lead up a dark stairwell to find a lively white-walled room full of art enthusiasts.

The set-up wouldn't be out of place in London, where one-room galleries feature regularly across the city. But in Cardiff the gallery is a welcome addition to the art scene, where photographic exhibitions are harder to find in the city and open glass-walled galleries with quiet receptionists are the norm.